 And ye sister Muses whom I loveWith sacred fervour all the world above,O take me for your seer: give me to knowThe ways of Heaven above and Earth below,The paths sidereal, and the moon's new birth,The sun's eclipses, and the throes of Earth,And by what force it is the rising tideO'erflows the marsh, or how its waves subside;Why Sol in winter hurries to his rest,And by what laws are summer nights comprest.Book II, lines 475–482 (translated by J. B. Rose).